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LIFESCIENCELEADER.COM NOVEMBER 2014
ness to think about developing a relation-
ship with the customer/patient requires
transformative leadership. "Even with a
biopharma company that has 25,000 to
50,000 employees, there are really only
about 100 people in those enterprises
capable of changing the way a decision is
made." To assist you in becoming patient-
centered, he advises bringing in change
management experts to help.
Transformative leaders need to approach
partnering with patients as, "I'm going to
solve some problems for you the patient
that may or may not directly address our
company's needs right now," says Jamie.
"And, I'm going to make sure that I enable
an infrastructure so that you the patient
are better at solving your own problems
through this partnership." He analogizes
it as being the opposite approach to the
bygone days of coal mining. "When a coal
company came into a town, tore off the top
of a mountain, and left a bunch of chemi-
cals in the streams, even though they'd
given everyone a job for a little while,
they've left the town worse off." Instead,
strive to create a system that leaves the
patients better off. "I was at a discussion
yesterday with a major pharma about a
research project," he shares as an exam-
ple of what patient-centered is not. "They
were really excited about how they did
this and that, and said, 'We're being so
patient-centric.' I said, 'Really? What did
the patients get out of it?' The answer was,
'Oh, they're excited about participating in
research, so we make them feel better,
because they're participating in research.'"
If you want to be patient-centered, ask
yourself, "What's in it for the patient? How
will you leave them better off? What can
you give them to help them organize on
their own? Does that data need to be com-
petitive or can it be collaborative? How can
you make it available? These are things
conspicuously absent in many industry
approaches to developing a relationship
with patients."
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Medicine
and clinical
research are very
paternalistic fields that
have largely regarded patients
as subjects which perform best
when they are adherent, compliant,
unquestioning
followers of the rules.
J A M I E H E Y W O O D
Cofounder and Chairman of PatientsLikeMe